Display card support



Oct. 27, 1936. A Laws 2,058,809

DISPLAY CARD SUPPORT Filed Oct. 18, 1955 JZINVENT9R BY I ATTORNEYS l atentecl Oct. 27, 1936 UNITED srrs l cries 5 Claims.

The present invention relates more particularly to improved means for supporting a price card or other display card upon the neck of a bottle. Important objects of the invention are, to provide such a card support of generally improved design and to provide a card-supporting device designed for stable support of the card in a position for effective display and designed for attachment to a bottle neck in a manner to prevent the device from slipping downward along the neck. Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is an elevation showing the card-supporting device or holder mounted upon the neck of a bottle and supporting a card in a position at the rear of the neck;

Fig. 2 a view similar to- Fig. 1 showing the card holder supporting a card in a position in front of the bottle neck;

Fig. 3 a perspective view of the card holder on a larger scale; 1 r

Fig. 4 a side view showing the card holder supporting the card on the bottle neck;

Fig. 5 a. section on the line 55 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 a plan View of the blank from which the card holder is formed.

The card holder includes a spring clip portion I to snap on and embrace the neck of a bottle, and a card-supporting rack 2 borne by the clip portion. The clip is formed for interlocking engagement with a bead on the bottle neck to hold the device from slipping downward along the neck. The card-supporting rack is designed for stable support of the card and is also designed and disposed to stabilize the device on the bottle neck. Preferably the entire device, including the clip, the card rack and a connecting portion, is formed from a single sheet metal stamping. Spring steel is the material preferred but other material having a desired flexibility, strength and resilience may be employed.

The clip is of split collar form. In plan it is preferably of substantially horseshoe shape and it has a split or entrance of liberal width to receive the bottle neck. Bottles for beer or other beverages have a neck bead B spaced a short distance from the mouth of the bottle. The clip has a depth exceeding the maximum depth of such a bead and, intermediate its depth, the clip is formed tointerlock with the bead. For that purpose the clip has, at opposite sides of its split or entrance, a pair of clearance apertures 3 into which the bead B may protrude to anchor the clip. These apertures are elongated circumferentially of the clip and they preferably have rounded or semi-elliptical ends. The apertures are disposed materially nearer the upper edge of the clip than the lower edge in order to leave narrow upper marginal edge portions 4 above the apertures and much wider lower marginal portions 5 below the apertures. To facilitate attachment of the clipto the bottle neck the edges of, the clip at the split or entrance are flared, as a At a point diametrically opposite its entrance the clip has an integral extension 1 depending from its lower edge. Said extension is substantially fiat and relatively narrow. It forms part of the card-supporting rack 2. The rack structure includes a horizontally elongated strip portion 8 bent along a horizontal central line: to form a horizontal channel 9 to receive the lower edge margin of the card C. Preferably the length of said channel-forming portion materially exceeds the lateral width of the collar or clip and it is longitudinally centered with. respect to the supporting extension I so that it extends equally beyond opposite sides of the clip. Said extension 1 and the adjacent closed side of the clip are flush with the inner wall of the channel and form a continuation of said wall. The front wall of the channel has, at the opposite ends of the channel, integral upstanding spring fingers I 0. Preferably said fingers are bowed inward slightly over the channel.

The device may be easily made from a blank of the shape shown in Fig. 6. Said blank may be stamped or cut from a strip of sheet metal of a width equal to the desired over-all width of the blank. In Fig. 6 the sheet metal strip is indicated at S by dot and dash lines. To form the device the upper portion of the blank above the central neck portion 1 will be bowed laterally to form the clip, and the lower portion 8 will be bent or folded along the dotted line L to define the channel 9.

A display card C bearing price information or other indicia is applied to the device by inserting its lower edge into the channel 9, the spring fingers Ill being pressed outward to permit entry of the card. Thereby said fingers are put under tension and they press against the outer face of the card to force and. hold the card against the adjacent side of the clip.

The card-holding device maybe readily applied and anchored to the bottle neck by merely snapping or springing the clip over the portion of the neck bearing the bead B so that portions of the bead at opposite sides of the neck will enter the clearance apertures 3 and interlock with the clip. Thereby the device with the supported card is held from slipping downward along the neck.

The elliptical or rounded ends of the apertures conform closely to the rotundity of the bead. Also, the clearance afforded by the apertures enables the lower marginal portions 5 of the clip, below the apertures, to engage the neck below the bead and thereby brace the clip against lateral tilting. For-and-aft tilting of the clip is resisted by its tendency to contract around the circumference of the bottle neck and by engagement of the card-supporting rack with the adjacent side of the neck at a point spaced well below the clip. The card-holding device is thus firmly supported in proper position and the card is supported on the holder in an upright plane substantially tangential to the adjacent side of the clip. The long channel 9 and the fingers l0 provide stable support for the card.

The card-holding device is also designed to render it capable of attachment to bottles whose neck bead B varies in size and in location. To that end the apertures 3 are made rather wide vertically to accommodate a bead of maximum width if necessary, and the margins l of the clip, above said apertures are made very narrow for accommodation in even a quite limited space between the bead and the bottle cap or other protuberance at the mouth of the bottle. The device is thus adapted for substantially universal attachment.

A card may be supported as shown in Fig. 1 in a position back of the bottle neck or it may be supported in a position in front of the neck, as shown in Fig. 2. The former position of the card leaves the entire bottle exposed to view, whereas the latter position exposes a greater area of the card to display the indicia. The cardholding channel 9 is preferably made shallow in order to disclose as much of the card as possible, the channel being supplemented by the spring fingers ID to support the card.

Heretofore it has been customary to provide such display cards with integral portions for attachment to bottle necks. That, however, weakens the cards so that they cannot be used repeatedly and therefore renders it unprofitable to use high grade, attractive cards. The integral supports also fail to hold the cards with sufficient security or stability. My invention provides simple and inexpensive means to support the cards securely and display them attractively. It enables the cards to be used repeatedly without damage to them and therefore renders it practicable to employ cards of better grade.

What I claim is:

1. A card-supporting device for the purpose set forth, comprising a split spring collar forming a clip to detachably embrace the neck of a bottle and having, at opposite sides of its split, clearance apertures elongated circumferentially of the clip to permit a bead on the neck of the bottle to protrude into them to hold the clip from slipping downward along the neck, said apertures being materially nearer the upper edge of the clip than the lower edge, for the purpose set forth, and a card-supporting rack borne by the clip and extending therebelow at the side of the clip diametrically opposite its split and defining a horizontal channel below the level of the clip to receive and support the lower edge of a card, the rack having a lateral length exceeding the lateral width of the clip and extending beyond the opposite sides of the clip for stable support of the card, and the rack being disposed to abut a side of the bottle neck below the level of the clip to steady the device on the neck and being adapted to hold the card in an upstanding position close to the adjacent side of the clip.

2. A card holding device according to claim 1, characterized in that the card-supporting rack has, at opposite ends of its lateral length, upstanding spring fingers to hold the card close to the adjacent side of the clip.

3. A card-supporting device according to claim 1, characterized in that the device is formed from a single sheet metal blank bent into shape.

4. A card-supporting device for the purpose set forth, comprising a split spring collar forming a clip to detachably embrace the neck of a bottle and having, at opposite sides of its split, clearance apertures elongated circumferentially of the clip to permit a bead on the neck of the bottle to protrude into them to hold the clip from slipping downward along the neck, each of said apertures being separated from the upper edge of the clip by a strip portion of the latter which is narrow in comparison with the vertical width of the aperture and elongated circumferentially of the clip, for the purpose set forth, and cardsupporting means borne by the clip to hold a card in upstanding position.

5. A card-supporting device for the purpose set forth, comprising a split spring collar forming a clip to detachably embrace the neck of a bottle and having, at opposite sides of its split, clearance apertures elongated circumferentially of the clip to permit a bead on the neck of the bottle to protrude into them to hold the clip from slipping downward along the neck, said apertures being materially nearer the upper edge of the clip than the lower edge to leave only a narrow elongated portion of the clip above each aperture, for the purpose set forth, and card-supporting means borne by the clip to hold a card in upstanding position.

ALVIN LEWIS. 

